Auckland students gain awards in Formula Student race competition

A third overall placing in the Electric Vehicles category was among a number of awards gained by the University of Auckland SAE team at the Formula Student competition at Winton Raceway, Melbourne, in December.

The international competition focuses on the design, construction and performance of an internal combustion or electric race car up to 710cc/80kW. This year’s competition attracted students from Australia, New Zealand, India, Saudi Arabia, Germany and Japan.

Each team is made up of and managed by students, and their Formula-style race vehicle scrutinised for design and construction as well as their performance on track, competing across a range of static and dynamic events.

The University of Auckland team also placed second in Skidpan, second in Efficiency, third in Endurance and third in Design.

The Auckland team comprised about 50 students from a range of disciplines who had been working on their vehicle all year.

“You can learn theory in the class, but this gave us the chance to apply it and get a feel for real-world engineering practices,” Auckland team race engineer Jaiden Walmsley says.

The car is a 55kW two-wheel drive electric vehicle powered by a 500-volt accumulator – essentially the car’s ‘battery’, he explains.

Components such as the carbon fibre chassis were built at the faculty’s Newmarket campus. Two small in-hub electric motors powered its rear wheels, which could be described as similar geometry to “oversized baked bean cans”.

Walmsley attributes the team’s success partly to a simple design and three years of EV experience.

“It’s polished. This competition has always been about how reliable a car is,” he says.

“By keeping it simple, we could produce it quicker and we could do more testing at the track before going to the competition, which often means an increased chance of success.”